Tuesday August 6th
Today we had some free time in Fairbanks to look around the town before heading towards the Yukon and Tok. We walked downtown from our hotel by way of a scenic bike path that ran alongside a river. The path led us to the Fairbanks visitors center which was very interesting. It had a large display that wound through 4 different connected rooms telling the story of the seasons in Fairbanks and the surrounding areas. Much of it was told from the point of view of the Athabaskan Indians who are native to the area. It was excellent and free of charge.
Outside of the visitors center was an Arch made of antlers. Apparently this is the place to have your picture taken in Fairbanks, so here are a few pictures.
A little further down the bike path we found a WWII memorial to the partnership of the Siberian and Alaska armies in their effort to defeat the Japanese who were trying to attack Alaska. There is a large military base outside of Fairbanks and almost half of the people in Fairbanks are employed at that base or by the military. Here are some pictures of that monument.
We then walked into the town of Fairbanks to see if the stores were open, but they didn’t open until 11:30 so we were out of luck again. The summer days are long in Fairbanks, but the work day apparently is short most store hours wee 11:30 to 5:30.
On the way into town we noticed something that our tour guides had told us about, and we finally saw them. It gets so cold in Fairbanks in the winter that the cars need an engine block heater, and most public parking lots have a place to plug them in. We saw what we thought were parking meter, but on closer inspection, we found they were electrical outlets at each parking spot.
The cars all have plugs hanging out the front for the heaters.
We headed back to the hotel after a short stop at the fudge pot for fudge. We boarded a luxury coach headed for the Yukon. The drive is broken up into two parts so today we went only as far as Tok Alaska.
Along the way we passed North Pole Alaska. The local businesses really get in the spirit. Her is the Santa Claus house
And the worlds largest Santa
As we drove we got several fantastic views of the Alaska Mountain Range and Mount Debra and Mount Hayes.
We also passed by the Alaska Oil Pipeline. Here it is crossing a river
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Also along the way we cam across a large wildfire that has been burning for weeks and a helicopter trying to put it out. Here are a few of the pictures of the fire.
Finally we arrived at the Westmark Inn, Tok. We had been told that it was a bit rustic. We think it’s nice and interesting. The rooms are clean and pretty big.
We had a great dinner at the hotel and then went to check out the town before bed. They clearly have a sense of humor here. The gift shop at the hotel had a number of items with the saying “Tok Alaska, we’ve never heard of you either”.
The gift shop next door had a grass roof, which is fairly common, but these folks took it to the next level with a lawn mower on the roof as well.
We took about 5 minutes to see the rest of the town, seriously. This is the whole thing.
Off to Dawson City in the morning.
